Hit-and-run defendant in Carmichael case faces felonies

Paul William Walden, 31, was arrested after admitting he caused a hit-and-run crash in Carmichael this week that killed four show dogs and hospitalized their owners, the California Highway Patrol said.

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Paul Walden faces multiple felony counts on murder and manslaughter, following a July 2012 incident when he allegedly sped through a Carmichael intersection, striking two pedestrians and four Australian cattle dogs in the crosswalk.

The driver took off after the crash, leaving only Gemily West to survive.

"The next thing she’ll tell you she remembers is waking up on the ground in excruciating pain," said Kari Reeve, Sacramento deputy district attorney.

Reeve said West came to "screaming, because she didn’t know where Harrison and the four dogs were.”

Reeve told jurors, "She noticed that Harrison was also lying in the middle of the street, bleeding profusely. And she noticed that his leg was several feet away and lying in the gutter."

Harrison Long-Randle died from his injuries. He was 21.

But Walden’s defense attorney, Michael Long, painted a different picture of the defendant.

"Paul Walden is not guilty of murder or manslaughter because he fell asleep at the wheel at the time of the collision," Long said.

Walden was tired from a cross-country journey that started four days earlier in North Carolina, Long said in court.

But prosecutors pointed out that Walden has multiple convictions for driving under the influence. They plan to prove through a witness at trial that Walden was intent on buying drugs at the time of the crash.

"And Mr. Walden, as he pulls out of his pocket, preparing to inject heroin again, nonchalantly says, 'Well, a guy and his dog stepped in front of my car,'" Reeve said.

Walden’s attorney quickly disputed that argument.

"We’ll learn that Paul Walden was sober at the time of the collision," Long said. "He was not under the influence of alcohol or heroin or any narcotic substance."

More than a dozen family members showed their support for the victims in court, in a case that’s expected to include powerful evidence and painful testimony.